Irish Political News

… or Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Dublin’s New Year Festival continues until February 11th, and today saw the opening of the Smithfield Chinese Carnival: three days of events ranging from dragon and lion dances to demonstrations of Chinese cookery. The Carnival is supported by Dublin City Council, and I’d like to congratulate everyone in the Council’s Intercultural Relations Unit who have worked so hard to make the event a success! I’ve just come back from Smithfield, and there is a great buzz – so try and get out there if you can.

However, amidst all the celebration, it was sad to learn yesterday that members of our new Chinese communities are being confronted by an endemic Irish issue: low pay. I’ve blogged before - here, here and here - about low pay and my ‘Living Wage’ motion to Dublin City Council.

According to research carried out by Dr. Alice Feldman of UCD’s Citizenship Research Initiative, 60% of Irish-based Chinese people surveyed earn less than €14,000. To quote Dr. Feldman, interviewees felt unable to speak out against low pay or poor treatment “because they could lose the job or endanger others' jobs”.

The full findings of the UCD research on migrant groups will be published later this year, and I'm sure I'll be posting on this issue again. But in the meantime, here are some pics taken this afternoon in Smithfield ...

Something cooking ...


... The new face of policing

We all know that, whether you’re paying rent or a mortgage, housing costs are higher in Dublin than in the rest of the country. But what about other day-to-day expenditure? Well, according to the latest CSO figures for November 2007, Dubs can expect to pay more than our country cousins for a range of goods and services – 4.4% more, to be precise. Of 79 items examined by the CSO, Dublin prices were higher for 52 items. That’s 66%, or around two-thirds. All ten fruit and vegetable items were more expensive in Dublin than elsewhere.

So what kind of items are Dubs paying over the odds for? Well, your morning rashers will cost you over 21% more in Crumlin than in Cobh. A pint of draught lager will set you back over 12% more in Drimnagh than in Dundalk. A healthy litre of orange juice is over 11% more expensive in Inchicore than in Inchidoney, and a trip to the barber is the cruellest cut of all: over 40% dearer in Kilmainham than in Killinick.

One could have fun with these figures all day, but there is a serious point to all this: workers – and particularly the low-paid, for whom food accounts for a disproportionate high percentage of their budget – pay a high price for living in Dublin. And that’s quite apart from the high housing costs.

The current minimum wage is just €8.65 per hour. A pittance, whichever way you look at it – and regardless of where you live in Ireland. In the short term, I believe the Government should introduce a Dublin minimum wage supplement, bringing the minimum wage up to a €9 per hour for those living in the capital. In the long term, of course, we need to introduce and expand the concept of a Living Wage: click here and here to find out more about my Living Wage motion to Dublin City Council – an initiative which I would like to see replicated in Local Authorities throughout the country.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue trying to puzzle out why grapes should be over 17% dearer in Dublin than elsewhere …

When I came back to Dublin from Kyrgyzstan, I was delighted – and surprised – to hear that the Star had picked up my post on the Argos dispute and the issue of low pay. Yet more proof that the mainstream media is turning to the blogosphere for stories!

Pick up any weekend supplement during the next few weeks, and you’d be forgiven for thinking we’ve never had it so good. Pages are filled with ways to spend money this Christmas, and many of us are taking heed: according to the Irish League of Credit Unions, our average Christmas spend is set to rise this year, topping €1,431.

But many of those serving us as we indulge in this annual shopping spree won’t be doing too much shopping themselves. Retail workers are among the lowest paid in our society - like the Argos workers who went on a one-day strike on Saturday. They are seeking a 10% wage rise, to bring their hourly wages to €9.90 - up from the €9 per hour they currently get. Now, whether it's €9 or €9.90, these workers are low paid. Their wages are barely enough to survive on. Like over 50% of retail workers, they earn less than the European Union's low pay threshold - the 'Threshold of Decency', which in Ireland at present would amount to a little over €11. Still not a great wage, but a lot more than Argos workers are currently earning.

Last year Dublin City Council passed a motion which I had tabled condemning low pay, and establishing a Steering Group to examine ways in which the Council’s procurement policies could be used to promote a ‘Living Wage' in Dublin. The Steering Group, which is in operation, is also examining how Dublin City Council can mobilise trade unions, the business sector, community organisations and the citizens of Dublin to ensure that a ‘Living Wage’ is established for all workers in Dublin.

For many workers in Ireland today, the reality of life is not the glitzy lifestyle highlighted in the weekend supplements. They won’t be jetting off to New York for some Christmas shopping or wondering which expensive trinkets to buy their loved ones. Instead, they’ll be wondering how to give their kids a decent Christmas without going into debt. And, if they’re Argos workers, they’ll be wondering why they’re doing so badly when their employers are doing so well: Argos has recorded profit growth of a staggering 35% during the past four years.

I hope the Argos workers are successful in their dispute. And, if they are, I hope that success sends a signal to other retail chains.